"Steve" wrote in message ...

I've looked all over but I can't seem to find out when you're supposed
to do this ?

We've a large apple planted in 1933 that's all over the place. The last
owners seemed to have an aversion to going into the garden at all (we've
cleared 6 skip loads so far).
I've been told to cut it all the way back (it Y's off at about 5
feet and I was told to go about 4 foot along each branch and cut down
from there). Is this the right time of year to do this, I really,
really don't want to stuff this up.

Who told you to pollard an apple? We started some heavy duty pruning on our orchard of old trees - mainly Bramleys
(similar age to yours) today. Not because it's the right time but because it's the only way we can get it into our
schedule. It won't do any harm and we'll be able to mow in there again next year.
But *pollarding*??
On ours we're raising the crowns slightly to allow mowing.
Removing crossing, badly placed, inward growing, diseased branches, removing skyward heading branches. Then if
there's any of the tree left - a bit of thinnning and cleaning up.
But *pollarding*??
Because we are doing a lot we're using a 'chainsaw on a stick' aka Stihl HT 450 - a wonderful tool for the tops of
the trees.

Rod